Adventures in New York - coping with work and home. Exploring knitting and taking time to relax.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

My Cat and the Infection Saga

A few weeks ago, my cat had started to be off her normal eating habits so I managed to get a day to take her to the vet. Nothing hurt when the vet examined her but he immediately noticed that she had lost weight. We didn't get a chance to weigh her but he wanted an in-house blood series to check quickly and then the full lab results on blood and urine should tell a more complete picture. The in-house tests showed that she was dehydrated and the kidney indicators were high which could mean kidney problems. He thought it best for subcutaneous fluids and then antibiotics to give at home. The lab results would be in the next day.

Well the full lab results showed a high White Blood Cell count and there were White Blood cells in her urine. At minimum she had a bladder or urinary tract infection and those would also elevate the kidney indicators. However, he could not rule out kidney problems. The aim was to get the infection taken care of then re-test and see how the kidneys were doing without the infection placing a strain on them.

Well by halfway through the 20 days of Orbax antibiotics she was alot perkier and eating fairly well. She hadn't been withdrawn any more than was her usual and she had been interested in things before the antibiotic but she was now alot more lively.

After these were done and I brought her in for retesting I thought she was fine but the lab results still showed a high white blood cell count and high kidney indicators. Since the senior vet was on vacation the covering vet diagnosed kidney failure and continued infection. Another round of antibiotics, this time 7 days of Clavamox, a switch to the special prescription kidney diet and vitamins. She wouldn't touch the vitamin supplement although she seems to like the new food and was eating the antibiotic pretty well. When that round of antibiotics ended I called and spoke to the senior vet who was back from vacation. He wanted another round of the same Clavamox and was going to order the bacteria from the urine sample to be cultured to determine what it was and confirm that these antibiotics were the best for that type.

Well eating the prescription food did not last. She started to go off the food and then started to have what seemed to be hairball related vomiting. But then she had foam in her vomit. She had bad diarrhea one day and when she vomited it had alot of mucus. She acted like she was trying to clear her throat of mucus which was blocking her breathing. I took her into the vet again. Now he was extremely concerned that we hadn't eliminated the infection and concerned that I wasn't able to get the entire dose of antibiotics down her consistently. The strain that was cultured from her urine was a resistent one and nasty. He suggested medical boarding where they would administer medication throughout the stay and we could be sure she got full doses and any other medications necessary. That was Wednesday afternoon. I was to call the next day for full lab results. Those seemed better to some extent. Her White blood cell count was still high but he felt she did not have a systemic infection but one localized probably to the bladder or Urinary tract. Her kidney indicators were still high but did not get worse and a few were a little lower. So that was a good sign but we still could not be sure if her kidneys were okay or not.

Anyway, the poor stressed out baby is at the vets til at least Tuesday. I was able to bring her recent favorite bed, a Petco $9.99 one, and her refillable catnip mouse so at least something was there that was familiar and from home. Here she is on that bed in February:

I was able to visit her today and spent about an hour with her. She was stressed out and they had to wear the heavy gloves to avoid any injury from her even though they had a towel over her. It took awhile for her to stop growling and calm down. She finally started to purr and enjoyed being petted and getting her ears scratched. As the visit progressed she relaxed more and even gave me a few kisses on the face and groomed a little. She also stretched out and wanted a belly rub. It looks like she may have gained a little weight even though it has only been about 3 days. So that is a good sign. Here she is from today:

Of course when this happened on Wednesday I also found out that my office is being moved on Tuesday. Yet another Saga, *sigh*